Results 1-20 of 1,691 for speaker:Mark Fisher

Business of the House (29 Oct 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: Can the Leader of the House tell us whether a bribery Bill will be included in the Queen's Speech and receive a Second Reading soon afterwards? She will recall that it was considered in draft in April and received widespread support from all parties. Will she find time for it to be concluded?

Business of the House (20 Jul 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: I congratulate the Government on at last giving us time to discuss this vital Committee. I also congratulate them and the House on setting up the Committee and on choosing an extremely good Chair, who I believe has the support of all parts of the House, and an excellent membership of people with a great deal of interest in, and experience and knowledge of, these matters. The matters that we...

Business of the House (16 Jul 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: The Leader of the House has asked us to have confidence that she will schedule the debate, which so many Members on both sides of the House want, on the Committee to be chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Dr. Wright). We do have confidence in her, of course, but it is extraordinary that she should announce the business for next week without having announced when that...

Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry: New Clause 1 — Implementation of section 1 (7 Jul 2009)

Mark Fisher: I take my hon. Friend's admonition. Of course Ministers have discussed poverty, but when the story of this Government comes to be written, I do not believe it will say that they have crusaded and pioneered to eliminate poverty generally in our society. Some 12 years on, we still have a residue of poverty.

Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry: New Clause 1 — Implementation of section 1 (7 Jul 2009)

Mark Fisher: I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, and of course I would want to make the exception, which was implicit in her remarks, that those who earn low wages and are in poverty have been helped remarkably well by this Government. The Prime Minister, when he was Chancellor, introduced tax credits and transformed the lives of many of my constituents who were on poverty wages. It gave them a decent...

Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry: New Clause 1 — Implementation of section 1 (7 Jul 2009)

Mark Fisher: Does the hon. Gentleman share my view that one of the things making it impossible for the Government to find a solution is the fact that they are in denial? They do not recognise that they have caused a problem and say that they cannot identify the people who are losing out. I look forward to hearing from Treasury Ministers; I hope that we hear them say this evening, "Yes, we admit that there...

Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry: New Clause 1 — Implementation of section 1 (7 Jul 2009)

Mark Fisher: It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban). I, too, want to concentrate my remarks on new clause 1. The problem has been well described by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field). Members in all parts of the House regardless of party, and, more particularly, the millions of people who have been disadvantaged by these changes, owe a great debt to my...

Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry: New Clause 1 — Implementation of section 1 (7 Jul 2009)

Mark Fisher: Is my right hon. Friend certain about what he is saying about pensioners? I think there is a popular misconception along the lines he is describing. My understanding from pensioner constituents is that a pensioner must have an income of over £22,000 to gain from the measure and that anyone with an income below that amount will be worse off.

Written Answers — Cabinet Office: Children (7 Jul 2009)

Mark Fisher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the latest estimate is of the number of children in a household in which no adult is in work in (a) the UK and (b) Stoke-on-Trent.

Business of the House (25 Jun 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: May I congratulate the Leader of the House on recognising the strength of support for the amendment tabled by the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) yesterday, and on giving herself and the Government more time to think carefully about these matters? When she does so, will she think particularly carefully about the distinction between Government time and time that should properly...

Business of the House (7 May 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: Does the Leader of the House accept that the views expressed by the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) about the scrutiny of legislation on Report are shared and sympathised with across the whole House? Large chunks of major Bills—such as the Policing and Crime Bill, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned, and the Coroners and Justice Bill—are passing unscrutinised, and...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Minton Archive (20 Apr 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: What steps he plans to take to assist the retention of the Minton archive.

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Minton Archive (20 Apr 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: I am grateful to the Under-Secretary—I know that she appreciates the importance of the collection and the archive, not only nationally but internationally. With those of Spode and Wedgwood, it is one of the great ceramics industry archives, with all the designs of great designers such as Christopher Dresser. It would be a tragedy if it were broken up, so I urge my hon. Friend to take...

Stafford Hospital (1 Apr 2009)

Mark Fisher: I grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way, because I understand that he is under such pressure. Although I agree with my hon. Friend—and constituency neighbour— the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Joan Walley) about an independent inquiry and the review of case notes, does my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) not feel that what he is describing is a collapse of...

Opposition Day — [9th Allotted Day]: Iraq War Inquiry (25 Mar 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: The Minister knows that I voted against the war and that I want to see an inquiry. Is there not a way out of the timing problem that he is putting to the House? The inquiry will take some time, so could we not split it? Part of the inquiry could look at what went before the war and at the diplomatic and political issues. We could get on with that now. Nothing in our involvement in Iraq at the...

Bill Presented: New Clause 14 — Inquests in camera (23 Mar 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: rose—

Bill Presented: New Clause 14 — Inquests in camera (23 Mar 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: Like Opposition Members, I recognise that the Government have moved a long way on the matter, but they have sought to replace a provision that Members of all parties felt was dangerous and unreasonable with an extremely complicated paraphernalia of protections and clauses. I recognise that the Secretary of State has substantially removed himself from the process, and that is to be welcomed....

Bill Presented: New Clause 14 — Inquests in camera (23 Mar 2009) has video

Mark Fisher: Was not the case to which the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) referred, which came in front of the Oxford coroner about two years ago, exactly that—somewhat embarrassing to both the American Government and ours? It involved friendly fire that had killed our service personnel. Was not what the Secretary of State has mentioned behind the suppression of those inquests?...

Orders of the Day: Counter-Terrorism Bill (19 Nov 2008) has video

Mark Fisher: Is this not an ideal example of the importance of not rushing straight into a Bill but engaging in wider consultation—not necessarily taking a huge amount of time? The views that have been expressed in the Chamber this afternoon reflect the views of other experts in the judiciary and the court system. Surely the Government would benefit from taking a few weeks before publishing their...

Orders of the Day: Counter-Terrorism Bill (19 Nov 2008) has video

Mark Fisher: The debate has been unusually thoughtful. Every Member who has spoken has expressed not uncritical sympathy with and support for Lords amendment No. 106 without endorsing it wholly. From the thrust of what the House did not say, it is that it is clear that it is unhappy with the level of secrecy that could and will arise unless we do something about it. The House is in the debt of the...